Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

I think it definitely depends on where a wasps' nest is @Thevictorian . They don't bother me at all, but we had one right above the back door when my girls were very young. They'd got in through a vent, but the nest was in the loft, right beside the hatch, and right next to their bedroom. It wasn't ideal, so we had no choice but to get rid of it. It was very small when we noticed it, so it wasn't too difficult. I couldn't risk the girls getting stung when they were so young. Nowadays, it's different, and as I think I said, we had coming in older daughter's bedroom when they'd found their way in through soffits a year or two ago. They didn't bother her at all, as she loves wildlife of all sorts, having been a lover of the outdoors as a child. She befriended a large moth in her bedroom when she was little, and it helped me as I'd had an irrational fear of them since childhood, due to them being in an old leather armchair in my bedroom, scuffling around in it - especially when I was in bed, and also coming out and flying around. Not tiny ones either. My mum never opened windows, so it became a very difficult situation for me. These are the silly things that can happen, and can affect you long term.
They certainly like this time of year, as you say @pete . When the weather's hot, people are eating/drinking outside too, and of course, the wasps are looking for food. It's not their fault, and when they come near, they're just checking you out, before discovering you aren't their meal. People don't understand that, and swat at them, which just upsets and confuses them, so they repeat the process, and therefore they're seen as aggressive and dangerous.

 

Most years I have a wasp's nest and/or a bumble bee nest somewhere in the garden, mainly in the ground and from my point of view it's live and let live. However the badgers take a different point of view and almost certainly at some point there will be a hole with seriously unhappy stinging insects around. I've even had badgers demolishing a bank of stone and soil and pulling out large rocks.
Last year there were few wasps around, I found the nest by accident, it was in a pile of rotting sticks and while talking to a neighbour I put my foot on it and then noticed wasps climbing up my leg fortunately it was a cool day and small wasps got away with half a dozen stings on the lower leg.

 

I have bad reactions to both wasp and bee stings so can't get near to any. We had to have a wasps nest fumigated last year as they had gone inside a ground level airvent and nested in the cavity.

Oddly enough, we had lunch with friends yesterday, sitting outside and saw no wasps at all. There haven't been lots around here either the last few weeks.

 

A couple of years ago I saw wasps going in and out of the greenhouse. As I wasn't using it I didn't think anything more of it, until I tried to mow the lawn. Masses of them came out and I made a swift exit. As the kids next door are young, and play close to the greenhouse I got a specialist in to get rid of them. The wasps had built their nest underground and it was about the size of a football. Impressive engineering for such small creatures.

 

OH disturbed a ground nest of bees when he was forking over my new bed in what was former pasture so rough grass, weeds and lots of hitherto dormant field bindweed. We left that bit untouched for a few weeks so they could move on.

The wasp nests are in the polytunnel and small and not very cleverly sited. despite my rescuing wasps form the watering can and leaving a safer bowl of water for them they still got angry when I went in to water the tomatoes, cucs and seed trays so I'd get stung. This year I've reacted and had painful, itchy lumps which is worrying so when they're dormant I shall try and relocated their nests up higher to see if that helps them and me.

All sorts of other buzzies and beetles living happily in old wood piles, stone piles, holes in the ground and crevices in old walls. We get along fine as long as we don't leave windows open at night with lights on and the shutters not down. Then we can get something that looks like a carpenter bee on steroids buzzing about the living room. Tricky to entice outside again but peaceful beasties.

 

Oven gloves! Why do they not insulate my poor little paws against hot oven dishes? I seem to need a new pair every 6 months.

And on the subject of poor manufacture, why do fridges and freezers die so young these days? Bought a large combo for Possum when she moved into an apartment in Namur to carry on her studies and, a mere 9 years later, the gas had gone in the fridge part and the freezer part will soon follow. Meanwhile, in a proper freezer that's a bit less than 9 years old, the only bit working since Saturday is the fast freeze part at the top.

Much juggling of contents, some binning, some feasting, spiced blackcurrant jelly and some cherry brandy now in hand. Good job it's not gardening conditions out there or I'd be even more frustrated.

 

Nine yrs sounds pretty impressive these days. Appliances seem to give up the ghost very quickly now. Anything over 5 and you've probably been lucky.

 

We had a wasp nest in our loft several years ago. Old house, stone walls and the emerging wasps managed to work their way down to the ground floor where they congregated . I managed to rescue most of them and release them and then got the roof ( their original access point ) repaired. Empty nest still in the loft.
Looking at some of the houses being built these days, developers would do well to get some Wasp Advisors/Engineers in to assist

 

Quite @shiney. I have a full sized fridge that is now over 20 years old and another freezer that's about 15. I do keep them clean, not over-loaded (except just now) and defrost the freezer as needed.

The smaller freezer which is almost dead was only bought because the door seal went on its predecessor and couldn't be replaced. Thank goodness the EU now insists on spare parts and repairability for new appliances so that won't happen again but they shouldn't be leaking their gas either.

 

Yes, but as we know, @shiney, Shiney Towers exists in a small gap in the normal space-time continuum, resulting in a suspension of the laws of aging.

 

Maybe it’s a Freudian slip…